Surgical navigation systems, also known as computer assisted surgery and image guided surgery, aid surgeons in locating patient anatomical structures, guiding surgical instruments, and implanting medical devices with a high degree of accuracy. Surgical navigation has been compared to a global positioning system that aids vehicle operators to navigate the earth. A surgical navigation system typically includes a computer, a tracking system, and patient anatomical information. The patient anatomical information can be obtained by using an imaging mode such as fluoroscopy, computer tomography (CT) or by simply defining the location of patient anatomy with the surgical navigation system. Surgical navigation systems can be used for a wide variety of surgeries to improve patient outcomes.
To successfully implant a medical device, surgical navigation systems often employ various forms of computing technology, as well as utilize intelligent instruments, digital touch devices, and advanced 3-D visualization software programs. All of these components enable surgeons to perform a wide variety of standard and minimally invasive surgical procedures and techniques. Moreover, these systems allow surgeons to more accurately plan, track and navigate the placement of instruments and implants relative to a patient's body, as well as conduct pre-operative and intra-operative body imaging.
To accomplish the accurate planning, tracking and navigation of surgical instruments, tools and/or medical devices during a surgical navigation procedure, surgeons often utilize “tracking arrays” that are coupled to the surgical components. The tracking arrays allow the surgeon to accurately track the location of these surgical components, as well as the patient's bones during the surgery. By knowing the physical location of the tracking array, the software detection program of the tracking system is able to calculate the position of the tracked component relative to a surgical plan image.
It is known to employ a keypad on the back of a universal calibrator used in a surgical navigation procedure. This “virtual keypad” allows the user to access certain system functions from the sterile field without using the touch screen or mouse, the latter items being located outside of the sterile field. The enabled functions of this known virtual keypad vary depending on application, but are accessed in the same manner. The user touches the desired button on the virtual keypad using the tip of a calibrated probe (or calibrated drill guide). The array of the universal calibrator and the probe array (or drill guide array) must be in view of the camera to enable the virtual keypad function.
The known virtual keypad is limited in the number of tasks that are pre-programmed into the software, as well as requires the incorporation and use of additional instrumentation during the surgical procedure. Thus, it would be desirable to overcome these and other shortcomings of the prior art.